Survey sees a drift away from religion in America

Christianity's hold on many Americans is slipping, losing out not to other

faiths but to "no faith."

Today, 76 percent of the U.S. population call themselves Christians, compared

with 86 percent in 1990, according to the third American Religious

Self-Identification Survey (ARIS), released Monday by Trinity College in

Hartford, Conn. Among Christians, the survey confirms that many are shedding

denominational loyalties for a more generic Christian allegiance.

One in every five U.S. adults chose not to identify a religious identity: 15

percent chose "no religion" and the other 5 percent declined to name one.

In the traditional Roman Catholic stronghold of New England, for instance,

the number of Catholic adherents fell by one million between 1990 and 2008, with

most of those moving to "no religion." Catholics dropped from 50 percent to 36

percent of the region's population. New York state lost 800,000 Catholics.

''The decline of Catholicism in the Northeast is nothing short of stunning,"

says Barry Kosmin, a principal investigator for the ARIS surveys of 1990, 2001,

and 2008. "There is a correlation between the decline of Catholic identity and

the rise of 'the nones,' " as the survey dubs the "no religion" group.

In a major surprise, the Northeast now surpasses the Pacific Northwest as the

least religious part of the country. The "nones" represent 34 percent of the

population of Vermont, 29 percent in New Hampshire, and 22 percent in Maine and

Massachusetts.

Nevertheless, Catholics maintained their one-quarter share of the population,

thanks mostly to immigration in the South and West, particularly in California

and Texas.